Motivating management

Money is a hygiene factor: get it wrong, and your employees can never get it off their minds. But once their money's about right, it ceases to be a motivator...so what is ?

Feedback, feedback, feedback, all the time. Tell people when you're pleased, in very specific terms. It's even more important to let them know when things aren't the way you want them. Remember the magic structure of feedback:

• What's working for me right now is...
• What's not working for me right now is....
• What's missing for me right now is...

Coach rather than direct: use the GROW model:

• Goals: Help them define them with questions: "How will you know the problem's solved ?"
• Reality: "Where are we now ? Who, what, when, how - how can you measure it ?"
• Options: "What choices do you have ? What if constraints were removed ? How will you weight up the options and choose the right thing to do ?"
• Will: "What will you do, and when ? What could stop you ? How exactly will you know when you've succeeded ?"

Communicate on a very regular basis: Show everyone the numbers, share your strategy, let them know the issues you feel strongly about, ask them for input where you're less certain. Do this every quarter without fail, but update everyone at least every month. Make sure they see how their work contributes to the greater good, and how important it is they co-ordinate their work and continually communicate themselves. Tell the truth. Don't airbrush difficulty; share it - you'll be amazed how many of your team want things to be better too.

Enjoy yourself, and have fun. Company competitions, raffles, contests, Performer of the Quarter, Mistake of the Month, Best Quote of the Week awards all add to making things feel less like work.

I recently read an article where it recommended taking an employee to lunch once a week: not a bad shout, this. They get a hour or two of uninterrupted time with you, and you get chance to relax a little for an hour.

1.